Florida basketball leaps in Coaches Poll after Alabama beatdown

Florida basketball’s brutal home loss to the Auburn Tigers two weeks ago is well in the rearview mirror after a pair of superlative performances — a 47-point beatdown of the South Carolina Gamecocks on the road, followed by an epic victory in the O’Dome against the Alabama Crimson Tide.

As a result of the Gators’ plus-70 margin of victory over the last two games, Todd Golden finds his team up five spots in the latest USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll at No. 16. That puts the Orange and Blue between the No. 15 Vanderbilt Commodores and No. 17 Virginia Cavaliers.

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That kick in the pants at home appears to have given Florida a wake-up call, and now the Gators have put the rest of the SEC — and college basketball — on notice with nine games remaining on the regular-season schedule.

SEC schools in Coaches Poll top 25 after Week 13

The Southeastern Conference once again has only four member schools in this week’s poll, with Vanderbilt hanging onto their league-high No. 15 ranking. Florida is right behind them at No. 16, followed by the Arkansas Razorbacks, who fell five spots to No. 21, and the Texas A&M Aggies, who entered the rankings for the first time this season at No. 25.

Alabama fell out of the top 25, and now follows the de facto No. 27 Tennessee Volunteers (55 votes) with 15 votes. The Kentucky Wildcats continue to cling to their nine votes while the Georgia Bulldogs earned a pair this week.

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USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll top 25 after Week 13

Rank

Team

Record

PTS

1st

Prev

Chg

Hi/Lo

1

Arizona

22-0

775

31

1

–

1/13

2

Michigan

20-1

728

0

2

–

1/7

3

UConn

21-1

715

0

3

–

3/7

4

Duke

20-1

692

0

4

–

3/6

5

Gonzaga

22-1

625

0

6

+1

5/20

6

Illinois

19-3

599

0

10

+4

6/19

7

Iowa State

20-2

588

0

9

+2

2/18

8

Houston

19-2

586

0

7

-1

2/8

9

Nebraska

20-2

502

0

5

-4

5/NR

10

Michigan State

19-3

486

0

8

-2

8/21

11

Kansas

16-5

448

0

14

+3

11/NR

12

Purdue

18-4

387

0

12

–

1/12

13

Texas Tech

16-5

365

0

11

-2

11/20

14

BYU

17-4

315

0

13

-1

7/14

15

Vanderbilt

19-3

311

0

15

–

8/NR

16

Florida

16-6

306

0

21

+5

3/NR

17

Virginia

18-3

303

0

17

–

15/NR

18

North Carolina

17-4

280

0

18

–

12/25

19

Clemson

18-4

217

0

19

–

18/NR

20

Saint…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/florida-basketball-leaps-coaches-poll-181406658.html

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Publish date : 2026-02-02 18:14:00

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